This Mountain Life

Sea to Sky | BC Spotlight

Welcome to the high life: BC filmmaker Grant Baldwin’s portrait of the local mountain men and women who choose to breathe the thin, pure air of adventure and isolation is a stunning visual experience and a profound spiritual journey.

Chances are, you have never seen British Columbia quite like this before. Our province is 75% mountains, but few of us have ventured as far as the hardy folk Baldwin introduces here: Tania and Martina, a mother and daughter team who embark on a daunting six-month, 2,300 km trek through the Coast Mountain Range from Squamish to Skagway, Alaska; or Janina and Ian, who share a horrifying avalanche experience. Then there’s Simon, an artist who "paints" with his skis; Mary and Bernhard, who have lived off-grid for more than 50 years; and Sisters Marie and Claire, who contemplate God in the splendid beauty and quiet of the Queen of Peace Monastery in the Garibaldi Highlands.

What these people share is a very special connection with the natural world, a connection so precious that it borders on obsession, placing them at the mercy of the elements and far from the comforts of civilization. Watching Baldwin’s film, we marvel at their daring and resolve, their ingenuity and endurance, and with them, we savour a taste of the sublime.